Ohio governor mobilizes National Guard to assist health care workers

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Friday mobilized more than 1,000 members of the National Guard to assist healthcare workers as COVID-19 cases surge in the state.

The majority of the National Guard members will help with nonmedical matters, including transporting patients and assisting with food services, DeWine said at a news conference, The Washington Post reported. An additional 150 medical personnel will be sent to crowded hospitals and vaccination sites. 

“Twenty-two months of this pandemic has taken a toll on our healthcare workers,” DeWine said at the news conference, according to The Post. “Twenty-two months they have fought this war, and I want to thank them, and thank them again.”

The news comes a day after Ohio Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff said that the state is “in a very serious situation” with the surge in COVID-19 cases, The Columbus Dispatch reported. Ohio reported 10,588 new infections of the virus on Wednesday, which is more new cases in a single day than in the last three weeks.

DeWine said that Ohio is experiencing the most coronavirus hospitalizations since December 2020, according to The Post. The Republican governor also noted that the state is in the middle of a “perfect storm” of factors that are severely straining the state’s healthcare system, including a surge in the delta and omicron variants at the same time.

The omicron variant is causing a spike in coronavirus cases across the country. Infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci warned this week that the variant will likely be dominant in the U.S. in the next few weeks and may potentially overwhelm hospitals.